“She’s craving oranges.”
“Her back is bothering her.”
“The baby kicked today.”
I should have felt included by those updates, but mostly I just felt like someone receiving a postcard from a trip I wasn’t on.
And then there were the folders.
Sometimes he came back with little updates.
Ethan had always been organized, but this was something else. He kept receipts, doctor’s notes, and printed photos. Everything was filed and labeled.
“Why are you saving all of that?” I asked one evening.
He shrugged. “Just being organized.”
I nodded, but something about it seemed excessive.
Everything was filed and labeled.
One night, I finally said what I’d been thinking for weeks.
“Ethan. Don’t you think you’re visiting Claire a little too much?”
He blinked. “What are you implying?”
“I’m not implying anything. It just feels… strange.”
He laughed. “Sweetheart, she’s carrying our baby. I just want her to have a smooth pregnancy.”
I nodded. I smiled. I let it go. But I didn’t stop feeling uneasy about how much private time my husband was spending with our surrogate.
“I’m not implying anything. It just feels… strange.”
***
The next day, I decided to do something crazy.
I slipped a small voice recorder into the inside pocket of Ethan’s jacket right before he left to see Claire.
My hands were shaking.
I stood in the hallway holding his jacket and thought, Why am I even doing this?
I almost took it back out, but the feeling in my gut was louder than the guilt, so I left it.
That evening, Ethan came home from Claire’s and hung up his jacket like usual. He kissed me goodnight and went to bed.
I decided to do something crazy.
I waited until the house was quiet. Then I took the recorder from his jacket pocket, walked to the bathroom, locked the door, and sat down on the cold tile floor.
I pressed play.
First, I heard the sound of a door opening, then Claire’s voice, warm and familiar.
“Oh, good, you made it.”
Then Ethan. “I brought the vitamins you wanted.”
I pressed play.
I let out a breath.
Maybe I’d been paranoid. Maybe that was all it was. Maybe I was losing my mind.
Then Claire said something that made my whole body tense.
“Are you sure your wife is okay with all this?”
Ethan’s response made my jaw drop.
I sat on the bathroom floor, listening to the rest of the recording with my hand over my mouth.
Claire said something that made my whole body tense.
By the time it ended, I understood exactly what my husband had been doing every time he said he was “checking on the baby,” why he kept those folders, and what he planned to do once the baby was born.
He thought I would never see it coming. Well. Two could play at that game.
I decided right then to expose his betrayal by playing that recording for everyone we knew. I just needed the right opportunity to do it. That’s when I decided to throw a baby shower for Claire.
I decided right then to expose his betrayal.
***
The next morning, I came downstairs with a smile on my face and told Ethan I wanted to throw Claire a baby shower. “She’s doing something incredible for us. She deserves to be celebrated.”
He smiled. “I think she’d like that.”
I spent the next two weeks planning it. Ethan watched all of it with quiet satisfaction.
He thought he was watching his plan unfold. He had no idea the recorder was sitting in my desk drawer, tucked inside an envelope along with documents my lawyer had drawn up for me.
I told Ethan I wanted to throw Claire a baby shower.
***
Soon, the day of the baby shower arrived. The living room was full of people. Claire sat in the center of it all, smiling nervously as people told her what an extraordinary gift she was giving Ethan and me.
Ethan stood beside her, proud, grinning, and oblivious to the fact that I was about to show everyone what a liar he was.
When it was time for the toast, I stood up with a glass of sparkling cider.
The day of the baby shower arrived.
“I want to thank everyone for being here today,” I said. “And most of all, I want to thank two people who have been taking such good care of this baby.”
Ethan smiled. Claire looked touched.
